Brigitte Lilley, our neighbour and cherished friend, is the heart and vision behind By The Light gallery & studio found at Lalaphanzi Farm in Cape Point. Spirited, vibrant and warm, Brigitte mirrors the elemental craftsmanship of her work using clay and botanicals as her medium. The gallery’s name is inspired by the generous light that floods her studio, sharing that when she first relocated she felt “overwhelmed by the amount of light there was, whether it was day, whether it was night. The moonlight, the sunlight, are [both] just so nurturing and dynamic.” Actively working with clay for the last 10 years, Brigitte’s early memories take her back to a pottery class that she attended as a child which took place in...
With Très fragrances currently having a presence in four city spaces - New York, Lisbon, Johannesburg, and our Cape Town store - the influence of scent in the city has been vividly moving through our minds. We’ve been exploring how it captivates, stirs memory and can cause time to stand still, even briefly. Walking the streets of any city is usually a sensory-rich experience of sight, sound and sensation. Along with all the surrounding motion, the city’s scents add a deeper layer of awareness, when we pay attention. [Exhaust fumes; wet tar roads after rainfall; freshly baked goods, roasted coffee and the local flower market; each stranger’s perfume as they walk past, lingering in the mind and at the back...
Personality noun3 a: the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or groupb: a set of distinctive traits and characteristics The Personality of Scent Much like people, time spent with perfume is time spent getting to know the intricacies of that scent: how it changes, how it lingers, what sensations it invokes within and beyond the wearer. The impressions a perfume leaves upon the mind and heart of those who smell it speak to its personality; the composition of being that makes it remarkably distinct and unique to its own profile. The process of formulation holds space for vast changes to occur within the technical make-up of a fragrance. From colour to strength to the position...
Warm hues and golden light; Earth glows, ethereal and bright. Footsteps treading through open plains, Each step in presenceAs a witness to the world. Nature’s hand extending. Genius igniting, Fragrance being noticed, Alchemy dancing with the mystery of scent. A doorway leading to a place of softness. Wood. Sunbeams. Open space. Time, moving slowly and holding the vibration Of creation. An artist’s senses, crafting, opening, listening. Formulating alongside that which upholds f o r m l e s s n e s s. Fragrance is born. An invention of a language; An offering of quiet intimacy, Association, Pleasure. The essence of the depth of scent. A vision White butterfliesSoft breezeSmoke rising from the unseen. Light, revealing.
Poem by Boudica Collins
Perfumery is, in its own right, a very special and enthralling art form which offers immense beauty and endless discovery. Natural perfume takes that to a level of exquisite depth. Formulating natural perfume is an intricate process of alchemy, skill and creative intuition. It takes an attuned nose and an acute connection to nature’s fragrant offerings to create a perfume that captures the essence of its source while weaving a scent profile entirely of its own realm. Because it is distilled and born directly from nature - which is a wondrous and ever-changing spectacle - the molecular structure of natural perfume is unfixed and free to shift. This is mainly observed upon contact with skin: here, fragrance truly reveals itself....
